You might question the need for news on the annual Call of Duty game – it’s confirmation that 2016 is definitely a year – but the circumstances that surround it do make the new shooter notable. Activision Blizzard has bellowed from atop Mt. Money to confirm that franchise creator Infinity Ward will deliver the “innovative” game, which should come three years after it completed Call of Duty: Ghosts – if we’re sticking to the usual holiday release window.

Ghosts was the last game released before Activision spread development of Call of Duty games across three different studios, and claimed that each would have about three years to put together something befitting the series (especially after the tepid reception to Ghosts). The first ‘three year’ game, then, was Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare from Sledgehammer Studios in 2014, followed the next year by Treyarch’s Black Ops 3. Activision says Black Ops 3 is the best-selling video game on current consoles, period, so that went well.

When it launches later in 2016, Infinity Ward’s new Call of Duty: No Subtitle Announced Yet will complete Activision’s first three-step run through the new development cycle – before it all repeats again. With over $15 billion earned from the series (including DLC) and 250 million copies sold so far, this cycle isn’t likely to break, even while other huge franchises are taking some time off.